The interesting difference between the two games is that the Sherlock Holmes games (there is more than one) use numbered paragraphs in a printed booklet for your investigation, while the Chronicles of Crime games (also more than one) use an app combined with QR codes on cards for the investigation.

The Sherlock Holmes gameplay is often more subtle. You read through the numbered section, which might be as much as a full page, and besides the main points of information you might notice some details which hide additional clues. It is really a game about reading comprehension, and an ability to pick up details and subtext. The downside of the system is that the booklet doesn't know how you arrived at a particular paragraph. The paragraph numbers are codes for addresses on the map, and you might learn them through different means, for example from the newspaper or from the address directory. Thus it happens that you go to a location for a specific reason, and the text you read assumes that you went to this address for a completely different reason.

In Chronicles of Crime your questions are more specific. You not simply go to a location and get all the information available from there. Some locations you need to search using a virtual reality viewer and then finding in a deck of cards all the objects you saw. You can also talk to characters about specific objects or other characters, by scanning them. So, to take an example from a better know detective game, if you visit the library, you can find Colonel Mustard there. You scan the library and see the candlestick. Now you can ask Colonel Mustard about the candlestick, or you can ask him about Mrs. White, as long as you have met her or heard about her earlier, and thus have her card to scan. The downside of the system is that the narrative description of everything is much shorter, and much more straightforward, with less attention to detail required, except for the virtual reality scene scan.

A curious thing we noticed about both games is that we don't care much about the scoring system. Both games, in different ways, count the numbers of leads you followed or time you took to solve the crime, and give you a better score if you solve the crime with fewer clues. But we often felt that we had solved the crime, but would rather continue to investigate a bit more, rather than to advance to the final step and solution. The investigation itself is more fun than achieving a higher score for less investigation.

The major disadvantage of both games is that they have zero replayability. The Chronicles of Crime: 1400 game has one tutorial case and 4 full-length cases, while Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective has 10 full-length cases (but is twice the price). The one advantage I see with the Sherlock Holmes game is that you could easily pack just a part of the game (the booklet for one case, plus newspapers, directory and map fits in one large envelope) if you want to play it elsewhere, e.g. on holidays, while with Chronicles of Crime you always need all the cards and a smartphone or tablet. But for people who don't know if detective games are for them, Chronicles of Crime: 1400 is an easier and cheaper entry level game.